The Denial of Metaphysics

One of the problems of modern society is its denial of metaphysics – which involves thinking beyond the material world, in that it involves questioning the assumptions and beliefs that underpin our worldview, much like Socrates’ emphasis on self-examination.

As the Scholar & theologian Hamza Yusuf penned:

Metaphysics is also the science of abstraction: the attempt to grasp the nature of things in their immaterial and universal essences. (The physical sciences, in this way, have a metaphysical dimension in that their universal laws are statements about essence abstracted from particular instances.)

Metaphysics aims to understand first principles, including those of causation itself, its nature, scope, and limits. This invariably means it investigates the contents of our minds, including our presuppositions (all that we assume or take for granted), how it is that we perceive the world, and the effects of those presuppositions on our active life, which are left unexamined by most people—hence, Socrates’ famous dictum, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”1